


The Winds of Change Are Blowing

by TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel



Series: There Are Monsters There Are Angels [2]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-28
Updated: 2014-11-28
Packaged: 2018-02-27 06:57:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,318
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2683484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel/pseuds/TardisIsTheOnlyWayToTravel
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A missing scene from I Hear the Voices When I'm Dreaming. Raphael's POV.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Winds of Change Are Blowing

**The Winds of Change Are Blowing**

Raphael wasn’t sure what to think.

He had pushed for the apocalypse in Michael and Gabriel’s absence, because what else was there for him to do? Their Father was dead – he had to be, because Raphael refused to believe that God would simply abandon him and his brothers – and all they had left was the plan that God had put in place aeons ago, in which Michael and Lucifer were to fight for the fate of the world.

It had all seemed to be going well, until Michael had disappeared. Michael had been quiet and withdrawn, but Raphael hadn’t thought much of that until Michael was gone. There was no warning: Michael just _vanished_ , and no one in Heaven could find where he was gone. He was simply missing, like their Father and Gabriel before him, leaving Raphael in charge alone.

So Raphael had pushed on with the plan, hoping that Michael would reappear when he was needed. Time passed, and Michael and then Lucifer’s vessels were born, and began to grow up. By this time Raphael had a second-in-command, Zachariah, a zealous angel who was just as anxious for the plan to unfold as Raphael was. Even more so, to be truthful.

After John Winchester broke the first seal, it didn’t take long before Sam Winchester broke the last, pushed into place by the demonic pawn of Lilith’s. Michael was still absent, but everything else was still going to plan.

And then it all went wrong.

_Lucifer!_ Michael called out, and Raphael started at the sound of his voice – the first time he’d heard it in thirty years. _We need to talk. Meet me in an hour at the Grand Canyon._

Raphael was filled with consternation, because this wasn’t how it was supposed to happen – as far as he knew Dean Winchester hadn’t said yes to Michael yet, and Sam Winchester hadn’t accepted Lucifer yet. What was Michael doing?

He found out when the seraph assigned to Dean Winchester next reported in.

_Michael has come to an accord with Lucifer,_ Castiel said in his true voice. He’d left his vessel behind for this meeting. _Neither of them wish to destroy the Earth. Michael intends to protect it. I am following his orders at this time,_ Castiel added deliberately.

Zachariah had fumed and raged and threatened Castiel, but Castiel calmly told him that if he was unhappy with the arrangement, then he should take it up with Michael. Raphael dismissed the seraph, his mind whirling at Castiel’s news.

_That insignificant little –_ Zachariah seethed. Raphael cut him off.

_He follows Michael’s orders,_ Raphael said, his voice heavy with reproval. _He is a good and obedient angel._

That drew Zachariah up short, and the other angel clearly didn’t agree, but didn’t dare say so in the face of Raphael’s disapproval.

_I will find Michael,_ Raphael finally said, _and hear what he has to say for himself._

And so Raphael took a vessel, and went down to Earth, in search of his elder brother.

* * *

He found Michael sitting at the edge of an enormous canyon, staring pensively into the sunset. Before Raphael could say a word, Michael spoke without turning around.

“Hello, Raphael.”

Raphael had many things he wanted to say, many questions he wanted to ask, but to his surprise, what came out his mouth was, “You left.”

Michael shifted his vessel so that he could meet Raphael’s eyes.

“I needed a way out,” he said simply. “Raphael, did you really think that I’d agree to kill one of my closest brothers?”

Raphael stared for a long moment.

“It was what Father commanded,” he said finally, unsure what else to say.

Michael’s mouth twisted a little, but Raphael wasn’t sure how to interpret the facial expression.

“Dad’s not here anymore, Raphael,” he replied. “The only order of his I’m going to follow is the last one.”

“I don’t understand,” Raphael said, feeling off-balance.

“ _Love them as you do me_ ,” Michael quoted softly, and Raphael knew instantly where the quote came from: it was the last thing their Father had said before he left, right after he’d created humanity.

_These humans are precious. All I ask is that you love them as you do me._

Raphael reeled back. He had done his best to forget that last, incomprehensible command, suppressing it as much as he could.

“Humanity is flawed,” he argued, only to be struck speechless by Michael’s response.

“So are we,” said Michael, and Raphael gaped at him. “We pretend righteousness, even as we act with unrighteousness. We claim to work in God’s name, while ignoring the last, most important order he gave us. We destroy and pervert what we were assigned to protect. And worst of all? We lie to ourselves, tell ourselves that what we are doing is _good_ , when it’s just as evil as what Hell does.” Michael’s mouth tipped up crookedly at Raphael’s continued speechlessness. “Hurts like a bitch, doesn’t it?” he asked conversationally.

Raphael found his voice.

“Brother, you cannot mean what you say–”

“You bet your ass I believe it,” Michael retorted, and Raphael blinked in surprise at the human expression Michael had used. “And I’ll do whatever I have to to keep humanity safe, Raphael. But I really hope it doesn’t come to that. I just made up with Lucifer, for crying out loud. The last thing I want is to find myself fighting you, okay?”

Raphael didn’t know what to think. He swallowed.

“Run Heaven as you want until I get back there,” Michael continued, “which should be for the next few decades, but don’t screw around with Earth, okay? There’s good people down here. They deserve better than what Heaven had planned for them.”

Raphael swallowed again, his mouth strangely dry. Michael was back, but he wasn’t the Michael that Raphael knew. He wondered whether this passionate, incomprehensible Michael was better or worse than the quiet, distant one he’d known before.

“If that is what you want,” Raphael found himself saying, “then the apocalypse will not go ahead.” Something he couldn’t name made him add, “I have missed you, brother.”

Michael glanced up at him quickly, a complex expression that Raphael was unable to untangle written across his face.

“Yeah,” Michael said softly, his face breaking into a smile. “I missed you too, Raphael.”

And that, Raphael decided, despite everything, was enough, for now.

“When do you intend to return to Heaven?” Raphael asked. Michael shrugged.

“Give it a few decades. I’m on vacation.”

“Angels do not take vacations,” Raphael said, disapproving and uncertain. Michael grinned at him.

“Well, I do,” said Michael. “And I don’t care what everyone else thinks. You should try it sometime,” he added. “Spend some time on Earth, get to know humanity better. Try and understand what Father wanted us to see in them.”

Raphael wasn’t sure about that idea, but he inclined his head.

“Perhaps,” he allowed.

When Michael said nothing more, Raphael told him, “I shall return to Heaven.”

“Okay, dude.” Michael’s eyes were soft. “And just because I’m on Earth doesn’t mean I’m unapproachable, okay? If you need to talk, I’m usually free to hang out.”

Raphael was perplexed by the offer, but it warmed him, all the same.

“I will keep that in mind,” he told Michael. “Farewell, Michael.”

He returned to Heaven in a thoughtful, confused frame of mind, and contemplated Michael’s words for a long time.

He wasn’t sure that he agreed with Michael’s choices, but if this was what Michael wanted, then he would not stand in the way. It was a long time since Raphael had last seen Michael so certain, or so animated. Raphael found that he did not want Michael to revert to his former self.

It had been too long since Michael had seemed to care about anything. Raphael would not endanger that care now that it had returned.


End file.
